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Untitled Article
ttif ^ tefes are Bisgenter& HifiA * ' objectionable dfr isever&l a ^ cmmis but chiefly as it keeps up , and renders prominent , sectarian distinctions . Hie Mtf'm & wise and liberal government wdttld assuredly be tftteriy to obliterate ffibk ^ disiiftbtidns in ' till the transactions ^ f civil ahd pdlitical life . They are an ^ Vil which tnikes itself felt quite e nou gh ; which is indeed one of the wo&fce ^ ils in the present state of socie ty ; and he renders an ill Service to hutnatnity , who carries them into a single transaction or relation of life where
they * were not before apparent . We do not know that the Dissenters have in this instance any particular reason to complain ; the distinction ; is , in fact , greatly to their advantage . Their religious profession is the purchase of a privilege * On making it , they become forthwith invested with an option , which the Churchman does not possess , of celebrating marriage according to whatever forms they may prefer , or of keeping it as free from any ghostly
interference as were the espousals of Adam and Eve in paradise . But the obtrusion of theological distinctions , even when it is the occasion of a privilege to the Dissenter , is not the less a mischief to the community . It is on that account that we deprecate it . We want legislators who will look to the wellbeing of the nation , instead of everlastingly only consulting the claims ,
conciliating the support , and balancing the strength of classes and parties * : Although in this matter a substantial advantage accrues to the Dissenter over the Churchman , " so perverse is opinion , such a fondness is there for fetters which have fashion in their form , that it would not at all surprise us , if the Churchman ' s vassalage were ' made a boast , and some Dissenters should deem themselves degraded by their marriages being only known to the law and to society , as civil contracts . There are already plenty of lying , swearing , drinking , deistical , or no-istical conformists , who say , as Sheridan made Holla say to the Peruvians when Buonaparte was at Boulogne ,
' We seek no change , but least of all such change As they would bring us . ' *¦ We are content to continue to consecrate our marriages by the holy rites of our venerable and apostolic Church , and reverently bow to its pious benedicti 6 n . v It is for those who have no such sense of religion , who have abandoned , their country ' altars , to go with . their affidavits to the justice , and
4 ) bt&iri from the authority which allows the gin temple and the beer shop , a . Jic&nce for their unhallowed cohabitancy . * We trust that not many Dissenters ~ mU be dolts enough to be annoyed with this nonsense ; there are symptoms that some will be ; and many probably would have preferred the legalrecognition of marriages hy their own ministers . It will be rather absurd , if after aHi ; the magisterial marriage should be held not so respectable as going to church . : •••; :
< The iManchester United Dissenters * Committee has , we are sorry to see , protected against the bill , and requested the Premier to withdraw it : what defter can they expect to obtain , or would they obtain , were the Whigs to be reinstated in office to morrow ? Their objections are , in our judgment , somewhat * futile . The ' clergyman ' s fee is bad enough , but it is paid him in no tifriritualcapacity , but simply in his civil office of registrar , and may encoufrfcge him to earn an honest penny . The ' invidious line' is really a line of pfciv&lege . It is the Churchman who is degraded . He is tied to the wheels
of his pr iest ' s buggy . Does the Dissenter desire to be bound in a similar way ? Does he want his minister to be recognised by the State ? Is a law required which shall make the interposition of either * Holy Orders , ' or ^ IwtetMied'Holy Orders' essential to the matrimonial contract ? Jf so , let it be plainly stated . Those who understand what they say , when they affirm ntarriageto be a civil contract , and who regard the option of religious ceremony as the right , advantage , and dignity , which it really is , ca # feel nd degradation in personally appearing before ? the magistrate to verify their claim . Their only reasonable objectiori r ls ^ that mother * % re not allowed the sime
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 220, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/76/
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